[syslinux] Debian bug#604245: Syslinux fails (does not receive key presses on Sony vaio Z12C5E)

[Ferenc Wagner]

Gyorgy Jeney <nog.lkml at gmail.com> writes:

> On 24 November 2010 21:54, Ferenc Wagner <wferi at niif.hu> wrote:
>
>> Gyorgy Jeney <nog.lkml at gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> On 24 November 2010 20:25, Ferenc Wagner <wferi at niif.hu> wrote:
>>>
>>>> # sed -i '/^timeout/s/0/50/' /mnt/syslinux.cfg
>>>> # umount /mnt
>>>>
>>>> and then try to boot the installer from the pendrive.  Now it should
>>>> automatically choose the default item in the boot menu after 5 seconds
>>>> (unless syslinux is actually frozen by this time).
>>>
>>> I tried that.  When the menu appears, at the bottom, it counts down 5,
>>> 4, 3, 2, 1 and then reads something from the USB key for some time
>>> (the activity light flashes on the key) and then just hangs at the
>>> menu with the count being 1.  I waited about a minute before rebooting
>>> at this point.
>>
>> Looks like it actually tries to load the kernel.  Could you please fully
>> rewrite syslinux.cfg to contain only the following four lines and retest?
>>
>> default linux
>> append initrd=initrd.gz
>> prompt 1
>> timeout 50
>>
>> This should skip the menu and also make the kernel more verbose.
>
> This results in the following output:
>
> SYSLINUX 4.02 debian-20101014 EDD Copyright (C) 1994-2010 H. Peter Anvin et al
> Loading linux.....
> Loading initrd.gz.......ready.
>
> And then hangs.

Thanks.  Looks like when installed this way, Syslinux can't pass
execution to the loaded kernel on your machine.  #604560 looks rather
similar, so yours may not be the only problematic machine.
Unfortunately I can't reproduce this in Qemu, so further debugging isn't
easy, unless hpa or another developer comes forward with a clever idea.
I'm pretty much at the end of my wits...  Will try to repro this on some
real hardware, though.
-- 
Regards,
Feri.